


Crash and Burn

by blueforhim



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Boys Kissing, Cuddling, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Kissing, M/M, Newt loves it, Playlist, but maybe a bit, it’s not really a slow burn, thomas has a burner phone, thomas is a chaotic bi, thomas is talking to an anonymous person, you’ll figure it out eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-18 17:56:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14857487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueforhim/pseuds/blueforhim
Summary: Thomas is a mess, and he rises to chaotic levels when he meets Newt. Next thing he knows, he’s staying up late making Spotify playlists for Newt, buying a burner phone, and falling in love faster than he can catch his breath.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to my first ever newtmas fanfic! i’ve never posted any of my writing anywhere before, so i apologize if it’s not at it’s best.  
> but besides that, i hope you enjoy this first chapter and don’t hate it too much!

“Tell me about him.”

“What?”

Thomas laid on the couch flat on his back, his eyes glued to the ceiling. Either he hadn’t been paying attention to anything going on around him, or this was just an ice breaker for the silence Thomas thought he had been sitting in for the past half an hour. But Thomas didn’t need context to know exactly who they were talking about.

He didn’t switch his gaze away from the ceiling. “Why would you want to hear about Newt?” Thomas asked. His voice cracked due to the fact that he hadn’t used it in a few hours.

“Thomas, you and I both know you haven’t said much to anyone the past few months. Whenever you do talk, we all see how much your eyes light up...” they paused. “You need to say something eventually Thomas, and I’d much rather hear you talk about something you care about. So go on, tell me about him.”

Thomas finally tore his eyes away from the ceiling and readjusted his body to look at the person sitting in front of him.

“Where would I even start?” he asked.

“How about you start by telling me about the first time you met him?”

He could never forget the day that he met Newt even if he wanted to. Some of the times Newt reminded him of it he wished he could. Thomas bit his lip at the thought of recalling that terribly embarrassing story, but he pushed those negative feelings aside as he took a deep breath and spoke. And for the first time in a long time, his words didn’t feel forced.

 

The first day of Thomas’ senior year was one that he would never forget for many reasons.

Thomas was currently situated in a room full of students that he had barely ever spoken to. He needed one more elective to fill his schedule and ensure that he would be able to graduate, and of course, the only open course that fit with him was art. Not that Thomas hated it or anything, because he’d be lying if he said he did.

He never took art back in freshman year. The required arts course that he chose was drama. Thomas didn’t consider himself a shy guy, and he got a thrill out of pretending to be in another world for a moment or two. As much as he also got a thrill out of the countless colouring therapy books he had lying around at home, he was under no circumstances born with artistic ability.

But his thoughts on that were interrupted when he felt someone poke his shoulder.

Thomas pulled a headphone out from his ear and turned to face whoever was trying to get his attention.

“Is this seat taken?”

Thomas swore his heart skipped a beat when he laid his eyes on the boy standing in front of him. He was tall and slim, with long, soft looking blonde hair. He for sure wasn’t familiar with almost anyone in this class, but he had met everyone once or twice. This boy was different, notably because of his accent that Thomas presumed to be British. That, and the fact that this boy looked approachable compared to the other art students he had previously met. Thomas knew he would remember a voice like that. There was no way he’d be able to forget a boy like this one.

“Hello? You listening?” he spoke again, and Thomas realized he had been staring.

“Oh, right- yeah. Sorry about that…” he laughed to himself and clumsily removed his backpack from the chair next to him. “Go ahead. Free space. Just like the middle of a bingo card.”

The boy smiled at Thomas’ attempt of a joke and plopped down in the chair, while Thomas unplugged his headphones and shoved them into his backpack. If he had guessed correctly, the boy next to him clearly didn’t know anybody in the class either. So Thomas wasn’t going to waste any second introducing himself before the other art kids had a chance to snatch him up. 

“You’re new here then, aren’t you?” Thomas started as he turned his body to face the boy.

“Correct,” the boy responded. “What gave it away?”

“You just walked into an art class and asked to sit next to the student with next to no artistic abilities. That would be me,” Thomas smirked, pointing to himself. “My name’s Thomas, by the way.”

“My birth certificate says Newton, but I’d appreciate it if you called me Newt. That’s what everyone calls me anyway.”

Thomas was intrigued. “Newt’s a cool name.”

Newt smirked back at Thomas. “A cool name for what the kids would call a fake edgy arts student, right? I guess it just suits me.”

Thomas didn’t have a chance to respond before the teacher stood up and started class.

He kept sneaking glances at Newt the whole time the teacher talked. He had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. It was something along the lines of a beginning of the year art project that he knew he’d ask a classmate about later. He just couldn’t break his focus away from Newt. There was something about his presence that Thomas enjoyed already. He had never bonded with any of the art students before, and he never felt inclined to do so until Newt showed up. He was hoping that things would be different with Newt.

Thomas wanted a friend in this class… and he liked Newt.

“Jesus, Tommy, you really have trouble focusing, don’t you?” Newt laughed. The nickname threw Thomas off, and he had to try extra hard to stop his face from going beet red. “Did you hear about our assignment or were you too busy off in la la land again?”

Thomas discovered he couldn’t stop his cheeks from heating up. “I got distracted again I guess,” he lied. “Mind getting me up to speed?”

“I can’t believe we just met and I’m already picking up the slack for you. C’mon, Tommy,” Newt joked.

“Hey, I already warned you I’m not an art student. You had the chance to sit anywhere else but you chose this spot. You basically signed up for this.”

Newt rolled his eyes at Thomas. “Whatever you say. Anyway, we have to create a portfolio cover that showcases our interests. Just make sure it includes your name somewhere in it. Oh, and no printing off any pictures - everything needs to be hand drawn. Just to make it a challenge for you, of course.”

Thomas sighed and ran a hand through his hair. It couldn’t be too hard, right? He was good at colouring. Colour was an important part of art, and Thomas knew there was no way for him to fail at such a simple task.

He noticed Newt working away on a blank page in his sketchbook, and he leaned forward to hopefully sneak a peek.

“Whatcha gonna put on yours?” Thomas wondered.

“Well, I love music. That’s about it for me. I’m probably gonna draw out some album covers or something. I haven’t figured out how I want to incorporate my name into it, but it’ll definitely be in with the music theme. You?”

Thomas’ eyes lit up while he leaned closer to Newt. “You like music?”

A soft smile spread on Newt’s face. “Wouldn’t be here without it.”

Then, an idea popped into Thomas’ head. He wanted to make a playlist for Newt. He obviously had no idea what music Newt liked yet, but that wasn’t super important. Thomas figured he could anonymously send Newt the link, and maybe it would help the boy feel more welcome to the school, and hopefully he would feel more at ease if he knew that someone was thinking about him.

That, and Thomas really did like Newt. But no matter how outgoing he was, he wasn’t the best in the expressing his emotions department. This was the perfect way to do it. Then maybe one day Thomas would actually build up enough courage to tell him he was the one making the playlists.

“Hey Newt, what’s your number? I might need it if I doze off in class again,” Thomas batted his eyes, holding his phone out to Newt.

Newt shook his head but took Thomas’ phone and began to add his contact into it. “You’re real funny, Tommy. I guess I’ll be getting a text from you once you inevitably forget about this project again.”

“Oh okay then, you’re funny. Nice to meet you too.”

 

After class was over, naturally, Thomas ended up hanging out with Minho. The pair had been best friends for almost four years, ever since they turned out to be the only two freshmen to make it onto the track team back when they first started high school.

Thomas told everything to Minho. So instead of doing what they actually needed to do—train for track, which started up again soon—he wouldn’t stop running his mouth to Minho about ‘Newt from art class’.

“Dude, I get it. He’s that new British kid, right?” Minho groaned.

“Well yeah, but how do you know him?” Thomas asked.

“Number one, you’ve been talking about him for the past two hours; thank you very much for that, by the way,” Thomas rolled his eyes at Minho’s response. “He was sitting at the table next to ours before you showed up for lunch. None of us recognized him so we asked his name, he told us, then he got up and walked away a few minutes before you got there.”

“You didn’t invite him to our table? Aren’t we supposed to be the welcoming ones?” Thomas complained.

“Man, if you stopped dozing off in class and actually showed up to lunch on time, you could have invited the kid. And aren’t we not supposed bother people with headphones in, according to you? He looked more interested in his music,” Minho retorted.

“That’s because he loves music!” Thomas blurted out.

“Yeah, Thomas, I got that the last ten times you told me. Are we actually gonna train or do you have more to tell me about this kid?”

“Well…” Thomas shrugged. “There was one other thing. But you can’t tell him about it.”

Minho let out an exaggerated sigh as he walked over to his front porch steps and sat down. Thomas followed and rolled his eyes at Minho, who held his head in his hands, waiting for Thomas to continue talking about whatever he had left in him.

“He loves music, yeah? So I’m thinking I’m gonna make some playlists for him and send them to him anonymously. He’s new, maybe he’ll feel better if he knows somebody cares enough to be thinking about him,” Thomas explained, evidently excited over his own idea.

Minho didn’t move his head from his hands. “Okay, I’m curious, how are you planning on anonymously sending him these playlists?”

“Burner phone? Pay as you go kind of thing, I’ll just have to google how that works.”

“Okay, let me see if I’ve got this right, you can’t pay attention in class for five minutes but your first idea to impress some dude you just met is to send him playlist links via burner phone?” 

Thomas simply nodded. He wasn’t artistically inclined, but he never said he wasn’t creative. Well, going off of the look he got of Minho’s face, maybe calling himself creative was a stretch.

“Jesus Christ, Thomas,” Minho laughed dryly as he rubbed his temples. “Why can’t you just be normal and ask him to sit with us at lunch?”

“Just let it happen, Min,” Thomas reassured, reaching over to pat him on the back. “Just let it happen.”

 

“Thomas, that was lovely, why are you embarrassed?” 

Thomas turned away from them and went back to staring blankly at the ceiling. He folded his arms over his chest and let out a huff of breath.

“Newt is this cool new kid, and apparently everyone wants to be his friend. He approached me first, and the first thing I do is zone out while staring at him. Not once, but twice. I mean, who does that?” Thomas rambled on.

“Seems like Newt was a nice kid.”

“He is a nice kid,” Thomas snapped, quickly shooting a glare at them.

A frown grew on Thomas’ face and he squeezed his eyes shut. He didn’t want to deal with the world right now. “Whatever. I don’t want to talk anymore.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas shows Newt more of his chaotic side.

Thomas was lying down on the couch again, but this time he had his face stuffed into the pillow that he clung onto tightly. Thomas never wanted to talk. He had grown used to the lingering white noise in the room. Nothing made him feel at ease, he just learned how to deal with everything he didn’t want to deal with. 

 

One of the things Thomas hated was the constant silence. He hated the aching feeling growing in his chest that stopped him from talking every time he went to open his mouth, so he learned to deal with it. He had never been a silent person. He just learned how to deal with it. He had to. 

 

“Minho misses you, you know?” 

 

He missed Minho too. “I know. He texts me.” 

 

“Do you answer him?” 

 

“No.” 

 

“Thomas-” 

 

“I don’t want to hear it, okay?” Thomas spat. He sprung upright, grip tightening on the pillow. “I get it. I don’t need everyone telling me the same thing. Minho was there too, you know that? He understands. I know he does. He wouldn’t keep in contact if he didn’t.” 

 

“I just don’t want him to beat himself up if he feels alone.” 

 

Thomas raised his eyebrows. “I’m here because you asked for me. If you wanted to talk about Minho, you could’ve went and talked to him. Could’ve stopped wasting my time ages ago, actually.” 

 

He didn’t get a reply. Thomas knew he didn’t have to be so snarky, but he couldn’t stop himself. He watched it happen every time he opened his mouth, and he hated it. That’s why he had to keep his mouth shut and learn to deal with it. 

 

He stayed silent for awhile. He wasn’t sure how long they sat there like that, but he had grown used to it. 

 

It was the same routine. They came by, Thomas came downstairs and laid on the couch, he would sit in silence until they asked a question, then he’d snap at them, and then the two would sit in silence yet again until they gave up trying get him to say something. Thomas knew that they figured someone checking up on him all the time would make him feel better, but he couldn’t help but feel irritated anyway. 

 

“Thomas, I care about your well-being, so just… try not to get angry with me when I tell you I’m not leaving yet. Not until you talk about something. Anything.” 

 

“I already said if you wanted to hear about Minho, you can talk to him. Be my guest,” Thomas groaned. 

 

“Why don’t you tell me more about Newt?” 

 

Thomas felt all the warmth in his face flush out at the mention of Newt’s name. He couldn’t bring himself to respond, which made him ache. Because this time he wanted to. 

 

“I got the impression that there was more to your last story?” they continued. “You could tell me how things escalated from there. Unless I was mistaken.” 

 

“No, you weren’t,” Thomas exhaled, fiddling with his necklace. 

 

“Okay, so how did it go with the burner phone?” 

 

 

“You give me a headache, Thomas,” Minho sighed, closing the door to his room as Thomas threw himself onto Minho’s bed. 

 

Thomas simply rolled his eyes and flipped the other boy off, switching his focus back over to the new, cheaper phone he held proudly in his hands. After a week or two of dissecting Newt and trying to figure out his music taste—and discovering they had completely different tastes in music—Thomas had finally gotten together a few playlists that he was ready to send Newt. 

 

They weren’t anything like what Newt normally listened to, Thomas knew that for sure. He had been adding songs that reminded him of Newt, or any songs that reminded him of what Newt normally listened to. He was thankful enough to have had tracked down Newt’s account on Spotify. He no doubt used that to his advantage. 

 

“So,” Minho inquired, sitting down next to Thomas, “you’re really doing this?” 

 

“Yeah, man. This is serious. I took money out of savings for this.” 

 

“You took one look at this kid and your first thought is: wow, I’d love to spend my savings on this boy instead of talking to him like a normal person?” 

 

“Some of us,” Thomas said, pointing to himself, “like grand gestures. Life is boring, Min. All we do is sit in class all day, run, and come back here or to my place. Haven’t you ever wondered what it’d be like to switch things up?” 

 

“Well when you put it like that…” Minho whispered. 

 

“Yeah?” Thomas’ eyes widened as he leaned closer. 

 

“Yeah. No,” he laughed. 

 

“You’re no fun,” Thomas pouted, gently shoving Minho’s arm. 

 

Minho flashed a smile. “If I were no fun, I don’t think this would’ve been our fourth year of friendship. You’ll never admit it, but you love me no matter how much I make fun of you.” 

 

“Whatever, Min. This is gonna work, you just wait.” 

 

 

Thomas stumbled over his feet as he practically sprinted down the halls. He knew that if he got to the cafeteria early enough, he would be able to see Newt. He had learned in the past couple of weeks of knowing Newt that he didn’t enjoy being alone in large crowds, so he usually split when more students started flooding in. 

 

Today, Thomas was determined for it to be different. He had texted him his first playlist link the night before and was dying to know if Newt had actually listened. He was still unsure of how he would figure that out, but actually arriving to lunch on time was the first—not to mention only—step in his master plan. 

 

After what felt like a lifetime, Thomas finally reached the cafeteria and instinctively threw himself past all the freshmen blocking his way as he flew through the doors. 

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Newt. I came early for once,” Thomas muttered to himself. 

 

His eyes frantically scanned over the lunch room, with no Newt in sight. Thomas couldn’t help but feel a wave of sadness tug at his heart, but he tried to push it to the side as much as he could. He was early to lunch for once, he wasn’t going to let it go to waste so soon. The only sound solution was to sit with his friends and hope that Minho didn’t ask too many questions. 

 

“What’re you doing in here so early?” Newt asked, his voice sounding like a small explosion to Thomas, who was busy somewhere in his own world. 

 

Thomas jumped at the sound, then stumbled. Newt tripped over him, and then they were both laughing, legs and arms tangled up in a pile on the ground. 

 

“Are you sure the track team knows what they’re doing with you?” Newt joked as they picked themselves up and brushed themselves off. “You seem a little more clown than elite.” 

 

“Shit, Newt-” Thomas tugged at the collar of his shirt. “I thought you left already.” 

 

Newt raised an eyebrow at Thomas as he tried to contain the smile creeping onto his face. “And now you’re suddenly concerned about me and my whereabouts?” 

 

Thomas felt his face heat up in embarrassment. “What? I’m not- no, that’s rude, I mean we’re friends, of course I am. I just thought—” 

 

“Slow down there, Tommy. It was just a joke,” Newt cut him off. Thomas tried to ignore how confused Newt’s expression was at his sudden panic. 

 

“Of course it was. I knew that,” Thomas responded quickly, throwing up a quick finger gun to Newt. 

 

“So are you planning on telling me why you were looking for me? You’re never tuned in enough to be on time, so it must be important, I assume?” Newt suggested. 

 

Newt was right, he thought. Thomas was always off in his own world, including now, because he was so busy trying to stop blushing in front of Newt that completely he forgot he did have something to ask him. 

 

“About that…” Thomas’s eyes flickered over to his friends lunch table. Would Newt be overwhelmed? 

 

He hadn’t realized how many people he sat with until now. There was Minho, Teresa, Brenda, Gally, Frypan, Aris, Harriet, and Sonya. If he included himself, that was eight of them already. It dawned on Thomas that big groups like that weren’t too normal at this stage of high school, but they were a kind group of people. 

 

He just hoped that Newt would give them a shot and agree with Thomas. 

 

“I was wondering, and I never see you eating with anyone. So, I wanted to invite you to sit with my friends and I?” Thomas gestured over at his table. “I’m not forcing you or anything. I know we’re a big bunch, but we’re not scary. I promise.” 

 

Newt smiled. “Sure, I’d love to.” 

 

Thomas huffed out a breath of air he hadn’t noticed he had been holding in the whole time. He assumed Newt had noticed, because he heard an under the breath laugh coming from his direction. He tried to push aside any notable expression of embarrassment from his face as he led Newt over to his group of friends. 

 

Thomas plopped down on the seat next to Minho, and Newt sat down across from him, next to Teresa. 

 

“There’s someone I want you guys to meet,” Thomas spoke up, grabbing the attention of the whole table. “This is Newt. He’s in my art class. He’s cool, so I beg of you, please don’t be assholes and scare him away. Newt, this is Minho, Teresa, Brenda, Gally, Frypan, Aris, Harriet, and Sonya.” 

 

Newt gave a small wave and switched his gaze back to Thomas. 

 

“I don’t think it’s necessary to introduce me to my own sister, but I appreciate the gesture, Tommy,” Newt chuckled, smirking over at the other side of the table. “Hey, Sonya.” 

 

Thomas mentally slapped himself. How did he not know Newt had a sister? He made a mental note to pay more attention when they were in class together. He didn’t want to think about the other basic information he’d missed while off in his own world. 

 

“Thomas here likes living off in his own world. You get used to it pretty quick,” Minho laughed. He extended his hand across the table to Newt. “Nice to meet you, Newt.” 

 

“It’s true. Me and Tom have been friends since we were kids, he’s always been like this. Honestly, I think it got worse,” Teresa joined in. 

 

Thomas crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. “Come on, you guys! Why do you always pick on me?” 

 

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Newt laughing along with Teresa. He wasn’t fond of his friends making fun of him in front of Newt, but he wasn’t going to complain if that meant he felt comfortable around his friends. 

 

Thomas figured at this point that step one of his plan was complete: get Newt in with his friends at lunch. He still needed to figure out a way to ask if Newt had heard the playlist. But he knew that now wasn’t the right place to be thinking too hard—he didn’t want his friends to make fun of him even more for daydreaming… again. 

 

He shrugged it off for the time being and tried to enjoy himself. Newt seemed to be fitting in just fine with everyone. His two best friends — Minho and Teresa — looked as impressed with Newt as Thomas probably did when he first met him. As far as any of Thomas’s plans went, this seemed to be his best one yet. 

 

 

“Hey, Tommy?” Newt tugged at Thomas’s sleeve. 

 

“What’s up?” Thomas replied. He dropped his pencil on the table and turned to face the other boy. 

 

“Thanks. For lunch, I mean.” Newt smiled sweetly. 

 

“Yeah, of course, Newt. Hopefully my friends didn’t scare you too much?” Thomas was curious. That, and he wanted to be sure that it went as well for Newt as he thought it did. 

 

Newt threw his head back in laughter, and Thomas would’ve been lying if said it didn’t make his heart skip a beat. 

 

“Yeah they’re great, don’t worry. I wouldn’t mind doing that again— it’s up to you though, obviously. But you are the one who invited me in the first place, so I’m assuming you’re okay with it?” 

 

Thomas nodded vigorously. “Yes! You’re always welcome!” 

 

He watched as Newt laughed to himself and rolled his eyes in a—hopefully—playful manner. 

 

“Sorry, uh- am I coming off too strong?” Thomas sighed, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. “It’s just… I usually don’t enjoy being in the cafeteria that often, but today was different. We all seem to enjoy your company, that’s all I’m trying to say.” 

 

“Sure it is, Tommy,” Newt replied jokingly as he patted Thomas on the back. 

 

Oh god. 

 

Thomas could feel his heart beating against his chest. In fact, he had been listening to music but all he could focus on was how loudly his heart was beating, and the fact that he was breathing so heavily it probably sounded like he had just finished running a marathon. This had to be why his friends called him a disaster, Thomas thought. He was starting to understand them more. 

 

He couldn’t help but worry—was he coming off too strong? The oblivious part of him told him he was just making things up. Despite the disaster he was, he wasn’t stupid, and going off of Newt’s response to his panicked monologue, he knew. 

 

They had only been friends for about a month now. Thomas wondered if it were even possible for Newt to pick up on his signals that fast. Then he really thought about it, and was he even sending any signals, or was he just that much of a disaster that everyone else could tell except him? Thomas wanted to scream. Why was he always the last one to be told anything? 

 

“Troye Sivan?” Thomas heard Newt ask. 

 

Thomas was completely lost. “Sorry?” 

 

Newt pointed down at Thomas’s phone. He had Spotify open, and was listening to Troye Sivan. 

 

“You’ve heard Troye’s new stuff? That’s funny.” 

 

He raised an eyebrow at Newt. “Why’s that funny? He has good music.” 

 

“I know that. It’s just that I got a text an unknown number last night and it was a link to a Spotify playlist. They said they made the playlist with me in mind? It had a bunch of Troye’s new stuff in it, obviously. I don’t know. It was actually pretty cute. I just think it’s pretty ironic that you’re listening to his newer songs the day after I got that text? I never expected you to be a Troye Sivan kind of guy,” Newt shrugged, and Thomas had to stop himself from choking on his own spit. 

 

Newt had gotten the text. Newt had listened to the playlist. Newt had thought it was ‘pretty cute’. Thomas was practically beaming now. Maybe Newt was suspicious, but it was too soon to reveal himself. Thomas wanted to have some fun with this. 

 

“Really? Sounds like someone’s got a secret admirer,” Thomas replied a nonchalantly as he possibly could. “And yeah, I am. I guess there’s a lot you don’t know about me, huh?” 

 

 

“Sounds like the start of something good,” they smiled. 

 

“It was,” Thomas sighed. “It still is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay i hope this wasn't too choppy!!! forgive me if there's any mistakes i proofread it pretty fast
> 
> newt got the text oooo so interesting what will happen next?
> 
> anyway if you enjoyed feel free to give me on twitter @blueforhim :)

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!
> 
> the stuff with thomas isn’t supposed to make any sense but if you’re smart, you’ll piece it together eventually.
> 
> if you enjoyed and are interested, feel free to follow me on twitter @blueforhim :)


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